Reclamation releases Central Valley Project integrated resource plan

SACRAMENTO – The Bureau of Reclamation today released the final report on the Central Valley Project Integrated Resource Plan. Reclamation investigated climate change impacts on water supplies and demands in the CVP service area and performed an exploratory analysis of potential adaptation strategies to address these impacts. The Plan was authorized by the CALFED Bay Delta Authorization Act (P.L. 108-361) which directs Reclamation to develop CVP Division-specific water needs assessments and work with partners to develop integrated resource plans.

The Plan also continues and expands on the long-range planning activities of the CVP Yield Feasibility Investigation by providing an initial assessment of the potential impacts of future uncertainties in climate and socioeconomic conditions on the CVP Service Area and each of the nine major CVP Divisions — Trinity River, Shasta, Sacramento River, American River, Delta, Western San Joaquin, Friant, San Felipe, and East Side Divisions.

The Plan provides valuable information for other Reclamation studies, including the Sacramento-San Joaquin Basin Study, the CALFED surface storage investigations, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and the California Department of Water Resources' California Water Plan Update 2013.

Reclamation employed a scenario-based planning approach by combining three potential socioeconomic and six climate projections to form 18 scenarios characterizing a wide range of future uncertainties. Potential adaptation strategies identified in the Plan include increased water conservation, storage, conveyance and others. These strategies were evaluated and compared in an exploratory manner to evaluate their potential effectiveness under a wide range of future conditions and to identify tradeoffs among the adaptation strategies.

The Plan Summary Report may be viewed at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/SSJBasinStudy/. If you encounter problems accessing the document, please contact the Public Affairs Office at 916-978-5100 or mppublicaffairs@usbr.gov. The Summary Report may also be viewed at Reclamation's Regional Library, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento; call the library at 916-978-5593 to make an appointment. Electronic copies of the complete report are available upon request.